


Technus vs Minecraft

by Pandemi



Series: DP Tumblr Prompts [2]
Category: Danny Phantom, Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Tumblr Prompt, i know almost nothing about minecraft, just something short and fun, original youtuber in chapter 4, the first chapter was short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-01-25 22:14:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21363499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pandemi/pseuds/Pandemi
Summary: Tumblr Prompt (Find me at Pandemi-Writes.tumblr.com)Nightshade86 said: Danny plays Minecraft, Technus joins wanting to learn about redstone(this will be a series of one-shots that may or may not update whenever I feel like it)
Relationships: Danny Fenton & Nicolai Technus
Series: DP Tumblr Prompts [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1538389
Comments: 26
Kudos: 162





	1. Technus vs Night

**Author's Note:**

> So… I basically just started playing, so I don’t know much about redstone, and I don't do much anyway… but this did give me a burst of inspiration. So enjoy this little mini fic!

In a rare occurrence of luck in both school and fighting ghosts, Danny found that he had some free time on his hands. When he wasn’t playing Doomed with Sam and Tucker, he was playing Minecraft. Which is what he found himself playing right now.

It was about mid-day in-game, Danny had just stepped out of his newly-upgraded house, when his screen started flickering.

“Oh no,” He whined. He was going to have to do all that work over again because of his stupid cheap computer.

_“HAHAHA!!!”_

Wait a minute.

He knew that voice.

_“I TECHNUS, AM NOW INSIDE OF THE MINECRAFT!”_

“Oh no.”

Danny watched as a blocky Technus avatar appeared on his screen in the middle of a grassy clearing. He moved his player closer to the ghost.

“Technus, what are you doing here? This isn’t connected to the internet the same way as Doomed; you won’t be able to take over from here,” the boy said to his computer… hopefully Technus would hear him. “Also… why Minecraft?”

_“AHA! GHOST CHILD!”_ Technus shouted. _“I TECHNUS, HAVE GIVEN UP—Uhh… REEVALUATED TRYING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD VIA THE INTERNET! NO, I AM HERE FOR SOMETHING EVEN MORE CLEVER!”_

Danny made an incredulous face, which apparently showed on his avatar, because then Technus scowled and stomped his blocky foot.

_“REDSTONE! I HAD FOUND A FORUM ON REDDIT CLAIMING IT AS THE MOST POWERFUL SOURCE OF POWER! I SHALL COMBINE IT WITH MY OWN POWERS AND BECOME EVEN MORE POWERFUL THAN EVER BEFORE!”_

“Please don’t say power again.”

_“AND YOU, GHOST CHILD, WILL HELP ME ACCUIRE IT!”_

“And why would I do that?”

_“BECAUSE I NEED IT! AND I… Don’t know how to get it.”_

Danny smirked. “I’m sorry, what was that?”

_“I DON’T KNOW HOW TO PLAY THIS GAME, AND IF YOU TELL ME HOW TO GET THE REDSTONE, I WILL SPARE YOU! THAT IS THE BEST OFFER I AM WILLING TO GIVE! NOW TAKE IT OR PERRISH!”_

“Wow… how can I ever pass up this great opportunity?” the boy drawled. He glanced up at the sky and had an idea. Smiling innocently, he decided to give Technus what he wanted.

“Well, for starters, you’re going to have to mine for it.” He gestured at the ground. “Don’t worry, you can use your hands if you don’t have a pickaxe.”

_“I TECHNUS, WILL NOT USE MY HANDS TO DIG! I HAVE POWER!”_ The ghost’s hands started glowing and crackling with pixelized electricity. After a moment, he pointed it at the ground in front of them, and released the energy in a small explosion.

Four blocks broke into dust.

Danny stared at the dent in the ground before looking back up to Technus.

“Great, now only twenty more layers to go.”

_“WHAAAT??”_ Technus balked.

“Yeah, it’s pretty far down there. You better get started if you want to take over the world.” Danny started backing up to his door. “Say, Technus? Have you built yourself a house yet?”

_“NO, I JUST WANTED THE REDSTONE!”_

Danny opened his door.

“So, you don’t have any armor or a sword?”

_“WOULD THEY HELP ME FIND THE REDSTONE?”_

“Not really.”

_“THEN NO!”_

He backed into his house.

“Hm, okay. Well then… have fun with all the zombies! Good night!” 

Danny shut his door on the now completely darkened area.

_“WAIT, ZOMBIES? HOLD ON, GHOST CHILD WHAT DO YOU MEAN? PH-PHANTOM, WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY ZOMBIES?? LET ME IN! LET ME IIIIIIN!!”_

<Zombie groans>

<Skeleton rattles>

<Technus screams>


	2. Technus vs Casuals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey hey, it's now an interconnected series of one-shots style fic!

After Danny had left Technus to fend for himself during a nightcycle in Minecraft, he thought that the ghost would come back to get some revenge or something, _anything_, really. But he hadn’t heard from Technus since that day on Minecraft.

And that had been two weeks ago.

Danny wasn’t… worried, per se; it’s just when a regular like Technus doesn’t show up in Amity for a while, it means that either they’ve been caught by Walker, or they’re up to something big. Danny would really prefer it to be neither one of those possibilities. It goes without saying for the latter, but for the former, Danny’s been in one of Walker’s prisons, and he wouldn’t wish that on anybody… well, except maybe Skulker, but unfortunately – and it pains him to say this – the hunter is too good to be caught by any of Walker’s goons.

Anyway, Danny wanted to stay positive, and see the lack of any tech-based ghost to be a blessing instead of whatever it _could_ be.

He decided to go back on Minecraft because Sam and Tucker weren’t around to play Doomed; Sam had to go to a fancy gala with her parents – his sympathies went out to her – and Tucker went to some tech unveiling convention-thing, so Danny was by himself this weekend.

Booting up the server took a little longer than usual, but he didn’t think anything of it, his computer was a little old after all.

His avatar appeared in his house, right where he left him.

<Pressure plate clicks>

That’s… really weird. He doesn’t _have_ any pressure plates in his house.

<Door creaks>

Okay, what’s going on? Nothing _should_ be going on, this is a single-player server, no one can get in, that thing with Technus was a one-time thing!

… wasn’t it?

He made his way outside and looked around.

Land.

Land.

Trees.

Hills.

Land.

Mansion.

Trees.

Wait.

Mansion?

He turned around and saw a very tall, very large, yes, _mansion_. Built out of what looked like obsidian and emerald blocks. It looked almost familiar. He walked closer as dawning realization – and a little bit of mild horror – hit him.

_“DO NOT TAKE ONE MORE STEP!”_ shouted a voice coming around a corner of one of the mansion’s walls. _“I HAVE REDSTONE AUTOMATED DEFENCES THAT WILL DEFEAT YOU!”_

Danny rubbed his eyes and blinked a couple of times. Yup. The black and green fortress was still there. And so was Technus.

_“OH GOOD! GHOST CHILD, YOU’RE HERE!” _

Huh. _That_ was not something he was expecting to hear.

“Uhh, what?” Danny replied smartly.

_“TELL ME, DO YOU HAVE A WITHER SKELETON SKULL WITH YOU? I JUST NEED ONE MORE!”_ Technus shouted as he flew over to him.

“A _what?_”

_“A WITHER. SKELETON. SKULL.” _The ghost said slowly. _“DO YOU HAVE ONE?”_

“Um, no? I don’t exactly go around fighting wither skeletons.—”

_“UGH, THEN WHAT _DO_ YOU DO?”_ Technus huffed.

“I don’t know? I just, do… stuff? Have you been here the entire time?” Danny almost yelled.

_“OH, YOU’RE A _CASUAL_—” _

“Excuse me?!—”

_“FURTHERMORE, I FIND IT RATHER UNCHARACTERISTIC OF YOU TO BE WORRIED ABOUT A GHOST THAT HAS BEEN GONE FOR ONLY A COUPLE OF DAYS, I THOUGHT YOU’D BE PLEASED THAT I WASN’T—” _

“Technus, it’s been _two weeks!_”

_“WHAT?” _Technus stopped and looked at Danny.

“Yeah,” the boy shrugged.

_“OH,”_ he said lamely. _“OH I SEE NOW… WELL, I DO SUPPOSE THIS GAME HAS GOTTEN ME A _BIT_ MORE INVOLVED THAN I WAS ORIGINALLY PLANNING.”_

“Ya think?” Danny raised an eyebrow at Technus’s glare.

_“FINE, WHATEVER,”_ the ghost waved him off. _“ARE YOU _SURE _YOU DON’T HAVE ANY WITHER SKELETON SKULLS ON YOU?” _

“I’m positive.”

_“THEN I’M GOING TO GREIF SOME DIFFERENT SERVERS UNTIL I FIND ONE—” _

“Wait, Technus, you can’t just do that!”

_“UGH, _FINE_, I’LL LEAVE THEM A STACK OF DIAMONDS, ARE YOU HAPPY?” _

“What? No! I mean. Yes! Wait, no, I mean. You can’t just go onto other people’s servers—”

_“I GOT ONTO THIS ONE, DIDN’T I?” _

Danny blinked. Huh.

“Okay, valid,” he paused and thought a moment before nodding. “Alright, have fun, but don’t cause too much havoc okay?”

Technus narrowed his eyes at him.

_“YOU’RE NOT GOING TO TRY TO STOP ME? I’M GOING TO STEAL FROM PEOPLE. I THOUGHT YOU DIDN’T LIKE THAT?” _

“Well, one, you said that you were going to pay them with a stack of diamonds—” he paused as Technus groaned— “so that’s not technically stealing. And two, it’s just a game. As long as you’re not causing damage in the real world…” he shrugged.

The ghost pursed his lips as he studied Danny and mulled over the conditions.

After a minute, he smiled toothily.

_“YOU WANNA GO MESS WITH SOME YOUTUBERS?” _

“Oh my god. Yes.”

And they were off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not going to write them actually interacting with any youtubers because I don't want to write any names or try to write any real people, so DO NOT ASK.   
Thank you.


	3. Hero vs Brine

Danny was having a great week. He had gotten more than half of his homework in on time; during a group project at school, they were allowed to choose their teammates, so he was able to be with Sam and Tucker; he and Technus were actually becoming friends, which, he’ll be honest, was a huge surprise, but super welcome; and ghost attacks were at an all-time low since almost before he had started fighting them.

So yes, Danny was having a great week. 

Although the keyword here is _was_.

Danny _was_ having a great week. Now though? Not so much.

He had spent all week trying to come up with the most convoluted pranks to pull on some youtubers, trying to out-convolute Technus’s convoluted pranks, which was really tough because that ghost is a master at convolution. He had wanted to show Technus his latest idea, but wasn’t able to find him anywhere; which wasn’t too odd because Danny had convinced him to actually leave the game every now and then.

So he figured he could work on his Redstone prank while he waited for his new friend to show up.

But that’s when it started getting _weird_.

He kept on hearing inexplicable noises like music or mobs where there shouldn’t have been, random doors opening and closing, and that doesn’t even begin to cover the _chickens_. Ugh, the_ chickens_. He’ll probably never hear a chicken cluck again without jumping.

He had tried to figure out what was going on, but just ended up running around in circles, spinning frantically at the earie noises, and occasionally flinching at the sudden chickens.

It’s a good thing no one was around to watch his embarrassing attempt at investigation.

…

Which brings him to now.

After about an hour or so of… whatever was going on with Minecraft, Technus had shown up out of nowhere and said—

“PHANTOM! I HAVE JUST FINISHED RECORDING OUR VERY FIRST LIVESTREAM!”

“Oh hey Technus that’s really cool— wait…” Danny narrowed his eyes at the ghost. “Did you say ‘_our’_?”

“OF COURSE! CONGRATULATIONS, WE ARE NOW YOUTUBERS! WATCH IT AND BE AMAZED AT OUR GLORIOUS TEAMWORK!”

“What?”

“DON’T WORRY, GHOST CHILD, I AM THE MASTER OF ALL TECHNOLOGY, I WAS ABLE TO EDIT IT AS WE WERE STREAMING, SO YOUR IDENTITY IS SAFELY INTACT.”

“I— w-wHAT?” Danny sputtered. Technus rolled his eyes and snapped; instantly, Danny’s screen was filled with blackness, which then faded into a second-person view of Technus’s Minecraft avatar.

… … …

Technus waves at the camera. Behind him, Danny’s avatar – which he made to look like Phantom – stands motionlessly while he went to look at a Redstone tutorial.

“GREETINGS FOOLISH HUMANS, I’M TECHNUS AND THAT’S PHANTOM, AND WELCOME TO OUR NEW MINECRAFT YOUTUBE CHANNEL, _HERO AND BRINE_!”

An egg appears in Technus’s hand.

“THE GHOST CHILD IS AFK, SO WE ARE GOING TO PULL SOME HARMLESS PRANKS! LET’S BEGIN!”

He throws eggs around Danny until a single chicken spawns. He snickers.

“We are just getting started,” Technus whispers, trying not to cackle. He phases through the ground into a small room he built under Danny’s house. Inside is a single Jukebox connected to what looks like a Redstone machine. He pulls up a Dispenser inventory, which already has two discs inside: Disc 11 and Disc 13. Technus snickers again but quickly shushes himself as he pulls a lever and the Jukebox turns on, playing Disc 11.

_“Oh, hey there little guy, how did you get out?”_ Danny’s voice is heard off-screen.

“He’s back! Shh!!” the ghost whispers. He turns invisible and pokes his head up through the floor to spy on the young ghost. Danny is switching his main hand between an Iron Axe and Wheat Seeds.

“Should I just get rid if you, or lead you back to the farm…?—WhAT was that!?” He accidentally swings his axe at the chicken when breathing and footsteps could be heard from the unseen Jukebox.

<Chicken dies>

He turns around in a circle, and when he sees nothing out of the ordinary, he cautiously looks out the window. Nothing. Danny looks around his room once more, pauses, then goes back to his Redstone prototype.

<Door creaks>

He looks up from his machine towards the door. It’s still shut.

“Technus?” he calls.

Still invisible, Technus clamps a hand over his mouth to keep himself from giggling. He quickly phases into a different room to spawn more chickens. 

<Egg breaks>

Danny whips his head around, looking for the source of the noise. Nothing. Again. He swears he hears footsteps but they would show up in his subtitles, wouldn’t they? And that breathing isn’t coming from him, right? Does he have some sort of weird feedback thing in his microphone?

Getting a little spooked, he decides to search his house—

<Chicken clucks>

He stops in front of a door to a room that… actually, he doesn’t remember this room. How can he have a room in his house that he doesn’t even remember building?

<Chicken clucks>

<Chicken clucks>

<Chicken clucks>

It’s muffled, but it sounds like there’s at least a few chickens behind this door. Did he forget about a chicken farm?

<Chicken clucks>

He opens the door and—

<Chicken clucks>

<Chicken clucks>

<Chicken clucks>

CHICKENS. EVERYWHERE. They pour out from the room like a wave, as if someone had spawned the maximum amount of chickens this room could possibly hold. Danny can barely move.

“WhAT the F—”

The scene instantly changes to a completely different room. The walls are Obsidian and Emerald.

Technus’s house.

But this room looks oddly domestic. There’s a Furnace and glass pane windows, along with blocks that look like counters and a flower pot with a pink tulip inside.

Technus’s avatar comes onscreen, with a newly-edited skin that looks like he has an apron and oven-mitts.

“GREETINGS ONCE AGAIN, FOOLISH HUMANS! _‘DID YOU JUST CUT AWAY?’_ YOU MAY ASK? _‘HOW CAN YOU DO THAT IF THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A LIVESTREAM?’_ YOU MIGHT FOOLISHLY THINK? WELL, LET ME ANSWER! I AM TECHNUS, MASTER OF ALL TECHNOLOGY, AND I CAN DO WHATEVER I WANT! MUAHAHAHAHA!! Anyway, we’re taking a little break from pranking Phantom to go over some sponsors today, namely: _Green Bib_. Green Bib is a food service like no other, it offers a wide variety of delicious pre-made food for your human bodies suitable for any foolish human budget!”

Technus walks around a counter and stands next to the Furnace while he talks.

“Now I know what you’re thinking! _‘Isn’t this just a food delivery service?’_ And to that I say NO! IT WILL JUST APPEAR IN YOUR HOME WHEN YOU NEED IT MOST, AND IT WILL DEDUCT THE APPROPRIATE AMOUNT OF HUMAN CURRENCY FROM YOUR BANK ACCOUNTS! NO NEED TO WAIT! NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL SERVICE!

“Now, I will demonstrate the difference between _having_ Green Bib and _not_ having Green Bib: This is you _without_ Green Bib—”

He pulls up the Furnace inventory, puts in a single Raw Chicken, and then a piece of Charcoal.

He stays completely silent as he watches it cook.

Ten long seconds later, he takes out the finished product and eats it.

“WOW! Did that take forever or what? That was precious time in your puny mortal lives that you’ll _never_ get back again! Now this is you _with_ Green Bib!—”

He turns to face a previously off-screen Item Frame. Inside is a Cooked Chicken.

Technus feigns surprise.

“_GASP_! It’s just what I wanted! Thank you, Green Bib!”

He stands for an awkward moment before clapping his hands together and smiling.

“And that’s the only sponsor we have for today, even though I tried to get Casper Bed-sheets, but apparently I _‘caused too much damage the last time I was there, get out of my house!’_” The ghost uses his fingers as air quotes.

“So let’s go back and see how Phantom’s doing!”

The scene changes just as suddenly as it did before, back to Danny’s house, except all of the chickens are gone. Instead, there seems to be random Raw Chicken and Feather items scattered haphazardly around the room. Danny’s avatar is holding an Iron Sword and spinning wildly as doors open and close around him.

<Chicken clucks>

“NO! THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE LAST ONE!”

<Chicken dies>

“I WILL HUNT DOWN _ALL_ CHICKENS, THEN THEY WILL BE SORRY!”

Danny runs out of the house, leaving all the doors open in his wake.

Technus drops his invisibility, turns off the Jukebox, closes all the doors, and shuts down the secret Chicken spawner he had built.

He turns back to look at the camera.

“WELL, IT SEEMS LIKE THIS PRANK WAS A SUCCESS! LIKE AND SUBSCRIBE FOR MORE VIDEOS AND HOPEFULLY I CAN CONVINCE PHANTOM TO CONTINUE THIS WITH ME! FAREWELL, MORTALS!”

… … …

The scene faded to black, then flickered back to Danny’s own Minecraft screen, his avatar was standing right where he was before Technus had forced him to watch his unwitting livestream. He sighed and looked to Technus, who was watching him expectantly.

“WELL GHOST CHILD?”

Danny sighed again.

“I hate that I love this.”

Technus actually squealed.

“HAHAHA! YES!! HERO AND BRINE WILL CONTINUE!”

Danny smiled. He might actually have some fun with this.

“But first, some ground-rules.”

“AWW…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The ground-rules are:  
1\. No harm to other people's builds  
2\. No harm to other people's characters  
3\. No more recording/streaming without the other's knowledge
> 
> Their youtube channel, Hero and Brine, is a reference to the fictional Minecraft character Herobrine. I didn't look to see if anyone actually had a youtube channel called Hero and Brine, so anything here is coincidental, yadda yadda yadda, you know the drill. I'm not referencing any actual youtubers. 
> 
> I hope this was good for y'all, I had a ton of fun writing this chapter. I've had the idea for the next chapter since the last chapter, so I'm gonna start on that one maybe. I do have a full-time job now, so I don't have a lot of time to write... but I actually like writing this series, so there will be more to come.


	4. Youtube vs Technus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NOTES: The youtuber in this chapter is actually the protagonist of a game that my sister and I have been trying to make for the past few years in our free time (because I wanted an OC where I knew their character inside and out instead of trying to create a new OC and contradict their personality half-way through), so again, not a real youtuber or youtube channel, any resemblances are coincidental and not intentional.
> 
> NOTES 2.0: I know next to nothing about Redstone, I know a little bit about computers and coding and circuits, so I theoretically know how some Redstone should work, so that’s all I’m basing this on. Sue me.
> 
> ALSO: I won’t be writing the subtitles in this one, too much will be going on and we can pretend that this person just doesn’t have their subtitles on.
> 
> ALSO 2, ELECTRIC BOOGALOO: There is some dialogue towards the end that’s (in parenthesis), these are not author’s notes, they’re supposed to convey that the speaker has turned away from their microphone, and their voices are slightly muffled. PLEASE let me know if it works.

_<Create New World> _

_<World Name: Slash n Hack Yo> _

_<Game Mode: Survival> _

_<Create New World>_

“Hi everyone, I’m Mar and welcome back to _The Main Problem_! If this is your first time watching, I basically just play a bunch of games and do stupid stuff. Today, I’m going to be doing a _very_ realistic _combat-only_ run of Minecraft—”

They stop abruptly when they see a giant castle only a little way away from their spawn point. Now, they’ve played this game for a long time, and they’ve _never_ seen a generated structure like that before.

They _must_ investigate.

It would be a travesty _not_ to.

“Uhh, hold on everyone, I have _got_ to see what that’s all about.”

They walk closer to see that the castle has to be at least three floors high, has multi-colored stained-glass windows, banners with various designs hanging all around, double spruce doors, and… guards? No, they’re—

“Aw dunk! Free armor!”

Two Armor Stands in full Iron armor.

They’re nabbing that, obviously.

After equipping the armor, they look up at the castle, then back to the area where they came from, then back to the castle.

“This is a trap. I know it’s a trap, it’s _so obviously_ a trap, but—I’m going in. No, no, none of you can persuade me, I’m—I’m going in. Here I go.”

They open one of the doors and peer into a brightly lit corridor. Nothing too scary yet, just a hallway… with no obvious traps like an arrow dispenser or anything. There are signs scattered along the walls that they can’t read. They step inside to get a better look—

_Click _

They stop.

Nothing is happening.

“Traaap?” they call. Still nothing.

They shrug. They’re probably going to regret this later, but now this is _way_ too interesting to just walk away from. They turn around to close the door behind them—

“Oh.”

The door is already closed. Heh, it was just a pressure plate. They move back and forth to use the plate to open the door again—

“Oh.”

There are only solid stone bricks where freedom once was. Now there is no escape. Well, they could just spend the time and claw their way out, but what fun would that be?

“Alright everyone, I guess the only way to go is forward!”

They take this time to look at all of the signs. Every single one of them has some variation of _Go Away!_ or _Turn Back!_ written on them. Thanks. It’s a little late for that! Oh well.

They get to the other end of the hallway and open another set of double spruce doors that lead into a small carpeted room with a Lectern and a book in the middle. They cautiously step in and… nothing. No pressure plate this time, and the doors are still open, so they decide to go up and read the book.

_< Page 1 of 5 >_

_< Welcome, Minecraft user, to our Castle von Trap!   
By now you must realize that this is a trap!   
But not to worry, all you must do to escape is solve our puzzles and earn your prizes! > _

_< Page 2 of 5 > _

_< You will be given 3 hints on how to escape with your digital life intact! > _

_<Page 3 of 5 > _

_< … 1 … _

_If you combine your skill and your wit,   
You may just survive this very first trap,   
Just don’t lose everything to the pit,   
With this hint it should just be a snap! > _

_<Page 4 of 5 > _

_< … 2 … _

_It’s time to put your body to the test,   
There will be no time to stop and wait,   
Only the dead are allowed to rest,   
So do not hesitate. > _

_< Page 5 of 5 > _

_< … 3 … _

_To cross the bridge and win the prize,   
You must first answer these riddles three,   
To the final challenge you should rise,   
If you ever again want to be free… > _

“Uhh, wow, okay, that’s kind of creepy…”

_<Take book> _

“Yoink!”

_Click _

“Uh oh.”

Two blocks on the other side of the Lecturn move back, then over, to reveal a secret passage. Nice. They go in.

The passage isn’t that long, they turn maybe twice and go up a couple blocks of stairs when they reach a small opening with a bed and a door. Hmm… if any of these traps kill them, they’d be blocked out of the castle with those stone bricks.

_<Spawn point set> _

“Alrighty everyone, seems like we’re getting to the _main_ event!”

They open the door to reveal a small platform with a chest, a drop that looks to be about four blocks to the other side, and a door a few blocks up from their level. Inside the chest is 22 blocks of Sand scattered about. They carefully look over the edge to find a massive pit with pinpoints of light on each block of the floor, presumably torches.

“Okay, so… I have to get to the door but I only have—” they pull up their inventory, “twenty-two Sand, that’s an oddly specific number. But I don’t think that’s going to cut it. Wait! What did that book say about a hint?”

_< Trapel Guide, by Technus, Original > _

“Heh, _Trap_el Guide—wait. _Technus_? Like, _the_ Technus? That new youtuber with that Phantom guy that says that they’re mcFreaking_ ghosts_? How did—how did he—they—my game… Yo, this is a brand-new game, folks. How did they… okay, I’ll unpack all of that later, let’s get back to the puzzle. The hint says _‘If you combine your skill and your wit, you may just survive this very first trap. Just don’t lose everything to the pit, with this hint it should just be a snap.’_ Hmm… Well, the sand will just fall into the pit, and with those torches down there, I won’t even be able to build up anything so… oh my gosh, it’s literally right there in the hint. _Combine_!”

They pull up their inventory and start placing sand blocks in the crafting panel. They can get five Sandstone blocks with two extra sand—they pause. That doesn’t sound like enough blocks to make good stairs. They decide to create one Sandstone block at a time and place it.

One… two… three… four blocks to make a flat bridge across the pit. They have six sand left and the door is still three blocks above them. Perfect. They use the last remaining sand to complete the stairs up to the door.

“Huh, that was pretty easy, I wonder if it gets harder as I go…”

When they open the door, they’re met with a similar sight as the opening right before the last puzzle: a small room with a bed and a door, with one exception, a chest. They open the chest to find a Diamond block and a book. They take both and read the book.

_< CONGRATULATIONS MINECRAFT USER!   
You have just completed our first puzzle, but we are just warming up!   
Collect your prize and continue through the next door!   
\-- Technus > _

They open the door to see a single length of blocks to the _next_ door at what seems like the other end of the whole castle, surrounded by _lava_. They carefully try to look around the room from their vantage point at the door because they can very clearly see a pressure plate at the start of the bridge. Whatever trap this is would activate as soon as they go in. From what they can see, the walls are full of Arrow Dispensers.

“Yup, that them’s a trap if I ever did see one. But it looks like a straight shot to the door… what was that other hint?” They open the _Trapel Guide_. “Blah blah blah blah… okay, here: _It’s time to put your body to the test, there will be no time to stop and wait. Only the dead are allowed to rest, so do not hesitate._ So… I just, like, go? I should probably get a running start, huh?”

They line up their avatar to the door and go as far back as they can before hitting the wall.

“Okay, okay, no fear, you got this!”

They start running at the door, and like they expected, as soon as they hit that pressure plate—

_Click. _

Arrows start flying all around them, just barely missing them as they run. A loud, definitively _not arrow_ sound starts up behind them, seemingly keeping pace.

_Ka-Chunk-Ka-Chunk-Ka-Chunk-Ka-Chunk-Ka-Chunk! _

“Oh my god oh my god oh my god, I don’t know what that sound is but I know I do _not_ like it!”

They don’t stop until they reach the door, unexpectantly unharmed. They take a moment with their relative safety assured to look back. The bridge is _gone_. Arrows are flying left and right and the bridge has just _disappeared_ into the lava!

“Oh my gosh, that was actually kind of intense. Probably not for any of you, but for me that was crazy. Alrighty then, one last puzzle!”

They open the door, see the same room as before and go directly for the bed.

_< Spawn point set > _

“Now for my prize!”

They open the chest and find two Diamond blocks and another book.

_< Hey, congrats on getting past that trap!   
That one was actually my idea!   
Have fun with the next one!!   
\-- Phantom > _

“Ooh, this is so cool.” They open the _Trapel Guide_ again. “Okay, so I’m pretty sure that this next one is just answering some questions, but… _To cross the bridge and win the prize, you must first answer these riddles three. To the final challenge you must rise, if you ever again want to be free_… Hm. I don’t know how I could possibly prepare for this until I see the questions? I’ve never been good at riddles, but let’s go in!”

They open what they expect to be the last – or at least second to last – door. They see another long room, much like the last one, but less… dangerous. The walls are plain stone brick and there doesn’t seem to be any pressure plates on the ground as they walk in. Like the previous room, there is lava covering the floor, but instead of it being leveled with the ground, it rests about two or three blocks down. There are small islands of stone brick set periodically through the room, as well as one right in front of them; each one with what looks like a Minecart and Chest in the middle, a sign on either side it, followed by levers. Very symmetrical.

They open the chest to find yet another book. A lot of reading in this castle. Oh well… They open the book.

_< What goes up, but never comes down? > _

“So like, they’re actually just riddles? Not even Minecraft-related ones? _What goes up, but never comes down?_ I could literally just Google these…” They pause for a moment and take a step back before looking to one of the signs. “But I’m not gonna. Let’s see what our choices are!”

_< A ball in space > _

They look at the other sign.

_< Your age > _

“Hmm… It’s a tough call, but I’m gonna have to say my age.”

They pull the lever next to the _< Your age >_ sign, and immediately, the minecart starts descending into the island until the top is one block below ground-level. As soon as it stops moving, sand falls from the ceiling; one block seals the minecart in the island, and several layers of sand fall into the lava creating a safe path to the next island.

“Huh, nice.”

They move forward to the next minecart to read the book, but before opening it, they decide to look at the signs first.

_< A time-machine > _

_< A dictionary > _

“…What?”

They open the book.

_< Where does today come before yesterday? > _

“Oh, I get it now! A time-machine or a dictionary? Well, they’re both good, I think. But thinking about it, I guess _Dictionary_ would be the most accurate one, seeing as you probably can’t change alphabetical order, and a time-machine is, you know, _a time-machine_… so I’m going to choose the dictionary.”

Again, the minecart descends into the island and sand falls from the ceiling.

There is only one more island left until the door.

“This is it, folks. The last question.”

They open what they hope is the last book.

_< What has many keys, but can’t open a single lock? > _

“This should be good.”

They look at their options.

_< A piano > _

_< A lost and increasingly desperate Janitor > _

“Oh my g— oh mY GOD, YOU GUYS!! I know _piano_ is the right answer, but I really _really_ want to say _a lost and increasingly desperate Janitor_!! I can’t _not_. I’m doing it right now. None of you can stop me, watch!”

Before they can think about the consequences, they pull the lever, and the minecart drops into the island. A single block of sand falls to seal it away. But… there’s no more sand.

“Oh no, did I ruin it? I—”

Finally, more sand falls from the ceiling, forming a clear path to the door.

“HA! Noice!”

They bounce up safely to the door, open it, and bounce inside. The room they find themselves in is a lot different than the other transitionary rooms so far; namely, there is no bed, no chest, and no other door.

Just a Jukebox, and a Pressure Plate.

“Welp, folks, here goes nothing. The final trap.”

They step on the pressure plate and the Jukebox clicks on.

_‘THIS IS A PRERECORDED MESSAGE FROM THE CREATORS OF THIS VERY INGENIOUS, CLEVER, WELL THOUGHT-OUT, INCREADIBLY—’ _

_‘Hi, I’m Phantom and that was Technus! You might know us from Hero—’ _

_‘AND BRINE!! NOW, WE HAVE ONE FINAL QUESTION BEFORE YOU MAY RETREIVE YOUR FINAL PRIZE!’ _

_‘I know this might seem… I don’t know… weird? Maybe? Cliché? But the question is: Did you have fun?’ _

_‘YOU MUST ANSWER CORRECTLY OR ELSE YOU WILL NOT GET YOUR PRIZE, WHICH IS VERY VALUABLE, BY THE WAY—” _

_‘NO, any answer is fine, we just want to know if we should do it again?’ _

_‘SO. FUN: YES OR NO? AND DON’T WORRY, HUMAN, YOU CAN JUST ANSWER OUT LOUD, WE’RE LISTENING.’ _

“You’re—wait, WHAT? You’re listening??”

_‘YES—NO!! NO. I MEAN… uhh… PRERECORDED!!’ _

_‘(Wow, Technus, that was real smooth.)’_

_‘(I PANICKED I’M SORRY!)’ _

_‘(Just, turn that off so they can answer.)’ _

_‘(OKAY BUT IF--)’ _

The audio suddenly shuts off as they bicker.

“Yoooo… what is happening?” they whisper to themselves. “Okay, so uhh, I just answer out loud, or do I have to step on the plate again?”

Silence.

“Ookay.”

They step on the pressure plate.

_‘THIS IS A PRERECORDED MESSAGE FROM THE CREATORS OF THIS… uhh, (PHANTOM, QUICK, WHAT DID I SAY THE FIRST TIME?)’ _

_‘(It doesn’t matter now, does it? They already know it’s not a “prerecorded message.”)’ _

Silence, for a moment.

_‘HELLO, MINECRAFT USER, HAVE YOU DELIBERATED ON YOUR ANSWER?’ _

“Uhh, yeah? Yeah, I had fun. It was pretty weird, though, how, you know, you got here at all, this being a single player server, and all that…?”

_‘EASILY. I AM TECHNUS, THE MASTER OF ALL TECHNOLOGY!! AND IF YOU HAVEN’T NOTICED, MINECRAFT IS MADE OF TECHNOLOGY.’ _

“Riiight…”

_‘Anyway, you’ll get to choose your prize this time! But be warned, you can only pick one!’ _

Two minecart chests rise up from the ground, a few blocks away from each other. They open one to see an enchanted Diamond Pickax.

_< THE ONE FOR REDSTONE   
Unbreaking III   
Mending   
Fortune III > _

Next, an enchanted Diamond Sword.

_< THE ONE FOR MONSTERS   
Unbreaking III   
Mending   
Power V > _

“Oh oh oh! That one! This one! I choose this one! Yoink!”

_Click. _

“Uh oh.”

They turn, sword in hand, just in time to see the other chest, the one with the pickax, be pushed into a newly-revealed pit of lava.

_‘CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR NEW SWORD, MINECRAFT USER! MAY IT SLAY ALL YOUR ENEMIES, AND HOPEFULLY IT WON’T LOCK YOU OUT AT NIGHT WITH NOTHING TO DEFEND YOURSELF AGAINST THE ZOMBIES AND SKELETONS BUT YOUR WIT!’ _

_‘(That was one time, get over it! You didn’t even lose anything.)’ _

_‘(I WAS VERY SCARED.)’ _

_‘Anyway, we’ll let you get back to your game now! Have fun, and thanks for playing!’ _

The Jukebox clicks off.

After a beat, a wall off to the side of them opens to show stairs outside leading all the way down to the ground, as an item falls from above. They pick it up. It’s a piece of Paper that’s just titled –

_< RUN > _

“Oh sh—geez—”

They run down the stairs, and reach the ground right when—

_BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! _

The whole castle erupts in an explosion of TNT, leaving a slight smattering of floating blocks, some burning foliage that quickly puts itself out, and a large crater in the ground; the damage stopping just before the end of the stairs. They are, miraculously, unharmed.

They take a moment to stare at the scene.

“Well, I think I’m going to take a little break for now… if you like what you see, then like and subscribe, and we’ll get back to this… uh, _supposedly_ combat-only run of Minecraft in a little bit. I’m Mar, and this has been _The Main Problem_…”

_<Save and Quit to Title> _

_Click. _


	5. Technus vs ...Earth?

Technus was bored.

He was so. So. SO. _BORED!_

There was _nothing_ to do in the Ghost Zone; Phantom hadn’t been on Minecraft for _days_, so he couldn’t even do anything with _Hero and Brine_; and then, when he went through a portal into the Living World, no one was even there to stop him! Granted, he hadn’t exactly done anything yet, and he _did_ promise that ghost child that he wouldn’t cause any mayhem…

Which led to him just floating through the streets of Amity Park.

Right when he was about to dramatically _give up_ on being _not evil,_ he spotted one of Phantom’s friends, the techy one with the fully customized PDA-slash-phone-slash-computer-slash-everything that he was _not_ jealous of. _No way_.

The boy, _Tucker_, he believed his name was, was sitting on a curb just outside of what Technus assumed was his home, tapping at his PDA and occasionally moving it around in an odd way. He quietly flew over to him and watched from over his shoulder.

It looked like he had his camera app open, but… he was playing Minecraft?

“WHAT IS THAT?” he asked.

If this was a cartoon, Technus thought that the kid would have jumped several feet in the air. Instead, he just fumbled with his phone, almost dropping it. He let out a sigh of relief when the PDA was safely back in his control.

“Oh my _god_, dude, do _not _scare me like that!” Tucker looked at him funnily. “What’re you even doing here? Don’t you usually hang out with Danny?”

Technus sighed theatrically and draped a hand over his forehead.

“PHANTOM HAS NOT GONE ONLINE RECENTLY, AND HE HASN’T BEEN ANSWERING MY TEXED MESSAGES, SO I GOT BORED!”

Tucker scrunched his eyebrows for a moment before remembering—

“Oh, duh!” He lightly hit his head with the palm of his hand. “He’s grounded! No phone or computer until it’s over.”

“OH…” The ghost deflated a little. “SO WHAT IS THAT?”

“What, this? It’s Minecraft Earth,” the boy held up the phone so he could see it better. “See? That’s a Build Plate, and you can move the phone around to get different angles as if it’s actually there, you know?”

“HMM…” Technus tapped his chin in thought. His fingers sparked as he touched Tucker’s phone—

“What are you doing??—”

And with a small arch of electricity, pointed to where the simulation of the Build Plate would have been on the ground.

_POOF! _

There, now sitting in front of them, at about a foot and a half tall, was a Build Plate. With the house that Tucker was building, and a tree, and his cow pin with all of his cows and everything!

Tucker’s eyes widened as he stared at the real-life Build Plate. He glanced between Technus and the Plate before looking down, tapping quickly at his phone. After a moment, he lifted the phone back up to the ghost.

“Can you do this one too??”

Technus smiled wide.

* * *

Danny trotted outside, two large trash bags in hand, to put in the garbage bin; part of his list of chores to do while grounded. That, however, marked the end of today’s chores. He was free to—no wait, he still had some homework he forgot about. Groaning, he dragged his feet, turning around to go back in—

“Woah—oof!”

He tripped over a… Minecraft house? He blinked a couple times, and even rubbed his eyes, but nope—still there. He tripped over an honest-to-goodness _Minecraft house_.

He looked around and saw a couple more leading in the direction of the park.

He had a sneaking suspicion of who was responsible for this, so as he lifted himself off of the ground and made his way to the park, he hoped that Technus wasn’t too mad at him for unintentionally ghosting him… no pun intended.

* * *

Danny didn’t have to speculate who was behind all the random squares of Minecraft for long as he reached the park, hearing two _very_ familiar voices talking and laughing loudly.

Technus and Tucker, which really was more surprising than it should have been, looked as if they were building statues of themselves out of Stone, with several of those base squares lined up to each other to make a larger base for them to work from.

Technus’s statue looked more complete than Tucker’s so far, but also more cartoonish. The stone Technus was standing in a superhero pose, with his long hair and coat flowing in an unseen breeze, and looking… _buffer_ than he normally does.

Tucker’s statue had more props and detail, which was probably why it seemed like he was falling behind a bit. He was standing at a table, unfolding what looked to be a long piece of paper for whatever reason.

“Hey guys, what are you doing? Are you hanging out??”

They both looked up from their statues, realizing that they weren’t alone anymore.

“We’re trying to find out who can build a better statue, obviously. Plus, you were grounded, so…” Tucker just shrugged.

“YES, AND I GOT BORED AND YOU HUMANS ARE SURPRISINGLY ACTUALLY KIND OF FUN TO HANG OUT WITH A LITTLE,” Technus pouted.

“Hey that’s great man! I’m really glad that you’re making more friends!” Danny smiled.

Technus scoffed and turned away to work on his statue, not-so-subtly hiding his face, which was now a bright green. Danny smiled wider as he turned back to Tucker.

“So I get that Technus is a superhero, but you’re… at a table, with a… loose accordion?”

His friend’s jaw dropped as he looked positively _scandalized_.

“A loose—_a loose accordion_??” He frantically waved at the thing his statue was holding. “They’re punch cards, dude! See how some of the blocks here are missing? _Punch cards_!”

“Oookay? Why…?”

“Oh my gosh, dude. It’s _Ada Lovelace_! The first computer programmer?! Ugh, I can’t even look at you right now, dude.” Tucker turned away with an exaggerated fake pout.

Danny started laughing until he realized—

“Uh, not that I don’t think that it’s really heckin’ cool that you guys are hanging out and making friends, but you _know_ Sam is going to be pissed when she finds out that you two are combining your chaotic energies unsupervised, right? Or at least without her?”

Technus popped his head back up from his statue and folded his hands under his chin, smirking.

“AH, YE OF LITTLE FAITH…” He pointed towards an area that Danny hadn’t noticed before.

Sam was there, sitting in front of her own cluster of Build Plates, with her back towards him. She had built a miniature Gothic-style castle, surrounded by trees and a garden of rose bushes and other brightly-colored flowers. Next to her garden was a row of maybe six or seven beehives, with a couple of signs propped up that just read _<Save The Bees>_. Some of the bees were fluttering around her hair.

She turned to face him with large eyes.

“Bees, Danny. _BEES_.”

He smiled.

And then he remembered that he was still grounded, and needed to get back home and finish his homework.

Ugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, check out my Tumblr, Pandemi-Writes.Tumblr.com for updates or if you want to listen to me complain! :D 
> 
> NOTES: The statue of Ada Lovelace that Tucker was mimicking is half of the statue of Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage in the Garden of Heroes and Villains in Warwickshire, England.
> 
> NOTES 2.0, Faster, Stronger: I was going to have Sam’s garden have Wither Roses, because they’re black… but they hurt, and they kill the bees, so she would take an exception from her aesthetic to save the bees.
> 
> NOTES 3000: This is probably going to be the last Technus vs Minecraft chapter for a while… I’ve seen “collection of one-shots”-style fics be labeled as Complete but still update whenever… so I’m gonna do that for this one too. 


End file.
